


Fight

by awkward_tumbleweed



Series: About Trevelyan: Commander Cullen Rutherford [5]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Bull's Chargers, Canon Divergence, Dragon Age Quest: In Your Heart Shall Burn, F/M, Pre-Relationship, Romance, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-10 03:16:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12902778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awkward_tumbleweed/pseuds/awkward_tumbleweed
Summary: In which Commander Cullen Rutherford discovers just how much Lady Trevelyan would give for the safety of others





	Fight

Haven was in chaos, and the arrival of the Archdemon or whatever the hell it was, just added fuel to the fire. Quite literally.

Cullen gritted his teeth as he strained his eyes to see past the smoke as he waved soldiers and survivors towards the gates. Through all the commotion, he spotted Trevelyan and her team helping Harritt, and as soon as the man was out, they all made a run for it towards him. 

"Hurry! This way! Move it! Move it!" A couple of soldiers ran by him before the Herald finally reached the gates. With help from Blackwall and Bull they pulled the gates shut. Trevelyan glanced up at the sky as the monster roared. Cullen clenched his jaw against the dreadful sound. "We need everyone back to the Chantry!" He started up the steps then turned back to face those with him. "It's the only thing that might hold against that...beast!" His eyes meets the Herald's. "At this point, just make them work for it."

And they were off, helping any villagers they could find on the way, and killing Red Templars as they went.

When they reached the Chantry, Roderick was there, staggering yet waving at them. "Move! Keep going. The Chantry is your shelter!"

Cullen was quick to run over to his men, barking an order for a status report. What he recieved wasn't what any commander would want to hear. He looked over his shoulder and found Trevelyan walking in after Roderick who hobble over to the side with the help of the strange, young man from earlier. Cole, he said his name was. He hated to be the one to deliver the bad news, but he had to. It was his job.

Pulling his shoulders back, he jogged back to her and the hopeful look on her face squeezed at his chest. He shook his head as he said, "Herald, our position is not good. That dragon stole back any time you might've earned us."

"I've seen an Archdemon," Cole joined in, and his head swivled with the wide brim of his hat. "I was in the Fade, but it looked like that."

Curses streamed into Cullen's mind. All hope that they were just dealing with a dragon went out the window. But, he could not let that distract him. "I don't care what it looks like. It's cut a path for that army. They'll kill everyone in Haven!"

Cole tilted his head up at him, face betraying nothing. "The Elder One doesn't care about the village. He only wants the Herald."

Said Herald frowned, but he could see the gears in her clever mind turning. His stomach dropped at her next words. "If it will save these people, he can have me."

"It won't," Cole shook his head. "He wants to kill you. No one else matters but he'll crush them, kill them anyway. I don't like him."

"You don't like-" Cullen stopped himself. He shouldn't take his anger out on the young man. He took a breath and turned back to Emma, desperation in his voice as he addressed her, "Herald, there are no tactics to make this survivable. The only thing that slowed them was the avalanche. We could turn the remaining trebuchets, cause one last slide."

He saw the exact moment the meaning of his words dawned on her, and he hated himself for it. Hated that he had to suggest such a thing. "We're over run," she said, brows furrowing further and making her look older than her years. "To hit the enemy, we'd bury Haven."

Cullen pushed down his feelings and hardened his heart. "We're dying, but we can decide how." He paused and forced himself to keep his eyes on hers as he continued, "many don't get that choice."

A heavy silence fell on them like a thick, suffocating blanket, and Cullen cursed himself as he watched Trevelyan's shoulders slowly slump in defeat, eyes filling with the same desperation he was feeling as he hands clenched at her sides. Then Cole spoke up once more.

"Yes, that." Pale blue eyes looked up at them from an equally pale blond fringe. "Chancellor Roderick can help." Cullen had to resist the urge to raise a brow. "He wants to say it before he dies."

The Chancellor continued, voice raspy with the exertion from his wound. "There is a path. You wouldn't know it unless you'd made the summer pilgrimage. As I have."

Both his brows raised. Emma stepped forward towards the man, and he followed suit as he continued, "The people can escape. She must've shown me. Andraste must have shown me so I could...tell you."

"What are you on about Roderick?" Trevelyan asked, and Cullen mentally applauded her for being inquisitive.

"It was whim that I walked the path." Roderick staggered a bit, but balanced himself. "I did not mean to start--it was overgrown. Now, with so many in the Conclave dead, to be the only one who remembers...I don't know, Herald. If this simple memory can save us, this could be more than mere accident. _You_ could be more."

She turned to him, dim hope returning some spark to her silver gaze. "What about it, Cullen? Will it work?"

He looked to the Chancellor, then back to her and nodded. "Possibly. _If_ he shows us the path." No harm in still being wary. Then another problem popped into his head. "But what of your escape?"

Biting her lower lip, Emma turned away from him, and his stomach sank again for the umpteenth time that evening. He won't be able to talk her out of it, he knew. They both knew the only way for them to make the escape possible was for her to go back out there once again to face their enemy. Cullen willed himself to act professionally as he stared at the back of her head. "Perhaps you will surprise it, find a way..."

Emma nodded, and he turned on his heel back to his men before shouting above the panicked voices of the people, "Inquisition! Follow Chancellow Roderick through the Chantry! Move!"

He motioned to some of his men before giving them a command then chanced another glance at her. Roderick told her something while Cole lifted the man's arm up and over his shoulders to support him. Trevelyan nodded with grim determination, and he approached her once more with his men jogging ahead of him. 

"They'll load the trebuchets," he explained when she watched them with confusion. "Keep the Elder One's attention until we're above the tree line."

She nodded again, and started towards the Chantry doors, her companions following after her. Watching her retreating back, he continued, loud enough for her to hear, "If we are to have a chance--if _you_ are to have a chance--let that thing hear you."

It was a flurry of activity from there, ushering the survivors of Haven and the Inquistion along, then being joined by Cassandra, Blackwall and Bull with no sign of the Herald before he ordered a flaming arrow to be shot up into the sky. His stomach clenched as he watched the snow rumble down the mountainside and unto Haven.

It isn't until days later, after they find Emma, shivering and half-dead, and they settle into Skyhold that Cullen let himself dwell upon the Herald's actions. He may have not liked the idea of their newly appointed Inquisitor giving her life up to save the many, but he will not wish for that side of her to change, as he will not wish anything else about her to be changed. 

If putting others before herself was what made Emma Fae Trevelyan the woman that she was, then he will accept that, even if it meant his own life will be shortened in the process.

She had a knack for making them all fear for her safety.


End file.
